Jurisdictions in the United States are granted considerable discretion in choosing the method by which they redraw their political boundaries following a decennial census. Two common methods are allowing legislatures to redistrict or creating a citizen commission to perform the task. Yet each of these processes frequently results in gridlock and/or political gerrymandering. This paper proposes an alternative method for local jurisdictions: a “planning approach” to redistricting in which it is suggested that districts can be created through the amalgamation of neighborhoods in a process driven by professional planners. This approach lends no consideration to politics. Rather, the research presented here posits that empowering planners to lead legislative redistricting processes will aid in the reduction of politically anticompetitive behavior, thereby increasing the efficiency, effectiveness, and logic of the process. A local redistricting problem using data from Buffalo, NY, is modeled and then solved using the proposed planning framework.

Environmental Stewardship (ES) is voluntary action on behalf of the environment. ES is typically practiced at environmental nonprofit organizations that offer stewardship programs. Because these programs are managed by individual organizations, relatively little external research exists on their impacts, e.g., diffusing norms and behaviors of ES more broadly across society. Responding to that research gap, this paper studies change in the environmental outlooks and behaviors of participants at two partner nonprofits in Texas using surveys (n=407) and interviews (n=5). Three categories of changes in environmental behavior are assessed: Natural Areas, Environmental Activism, and Water Awareness. Findings demonstrate that participation was linked to pro-environmental changes in all categories for the survey respondents. Follow-up interviews allowed us to capture additional aspects of ES not addressed in the survey. In all, ES can lead to greater uptake in selected pro-environment actions, higher awareness of environmental issues, and greater appreciation for natural amenities.